Since 2005, the Finnish GHOST BRIGADE has been feeding the worldwide Metal scene with their vision of a rather genuine musical directive. As today it is very easy to stumble upon an extreme Metal band, this group has been trying its best to be more articulate than others while incorporating elements from several musical aspects of both Rock and Metal. After sending the message with the first two albums, it was time for a third release. The band chose to name it in a relatively interesting title, "Until Fear No Longer Defines Us". Once again Season Of Mist Records were the label behind the GHOST BRIGADE crew.

With this kind of title, that I found to be a sort of a phrase or maybe a life guiding beacon, GHOST BRIGADE proclaimed my curiosity right from haunting atmosphere of "In The Woods". Instead of storming in with a heavy extreme Metal damnation, "Until Fear No Longer Defines Us" began with a dim and fairly depressive note. However, it didn't mean that it went sour through the rest of the way. Actually, that gloomy sensation was one of the main reasons why this album caught my attention. GHOST BRIGADE, almost throughout the album, tended their material to a certain level that it won't be so expected. They did use commercialized elements in order to draw listeners but didn't overuse it.

After the cold traces of "In The Woods", GHOST BRIGADE opened for me a world that included several of the bands that already made their mark such as PARADISE LOST, OPETH, TYPE O NEGATIVE and AMORPHIS. Moreover, GHOST BRIGADE showed musical signs that were seemed to be taken out of the Alternative Rock scene. It can be evident from some riffages from their entire selection, especially when it came down to the chorus sections. My favorite track "Grain" that exploded with an amazing atmosphere, addictive chorus and cool melodies as strong inflamers, had several of modern Alternative riffages that tangled well with the more true Metal fragments.

I can say that the same was with the darkened "Clawmaster" that went into extreme Metal patterns yet slightly dissolved into finer lines of calmness. "Chamber" and "Breakwater" seemed to have broken the band's direction into more Doom Metal progression, especially the latter that its length consumed even more interesting sections.

So as you can see, "Until Fear No Longer Defines Us", besides its strong statement, is a special release by this rather young Finnish group. GHOST BRIGADE has released their best outcome to date. This is the place where cold, atmospheric extreme Metal meets Alternative Hard Rock.